Just a Girl
by Obsidian Blade
Summary: Everyone has talents. But not everyone's talents cause their parents to hole them up on islands for their own protection. Sheltered from the outside world on land "cleansed" of the Pokemon "threat", Cassandra is not ready for the results of a freak storm.
1. Prologue

Just a Girl

The illumination was dim, the thin slats of light filtering through the blinds that barricaded the small room from the hustle of the busy main ward merely lengthening the shadows cast against the plain white walls. The air hummed with the hushed whir of different machines while a tall man stood, hunch shouldered, over one of many glass-topped cots. Behind a thin screen of silken black hair, eyes trained on a tiny, healthy human child wept silent tears.

In his opinion, 'healthy' was by no means the right word.

* * *

The merciless wind whipped the long blonde hair of a pale-skinned girl into animated dreadlocks that swirled around her frowning face like the hair of medusa. Brown eyes blinking vacantly in the face of the needling rain, Cassandra Nallu ignored the persistent cries of her mother as they echoed around the darkened rooms of the mansion behind her.

She stared out over the storm-thrashed buildings from the balcony of her room, those dark eyes failing to take in the image of broken windows, uprooted vegetables and missing roof slates that depicted the chaos unfolding in the island village. She was far away, beyond the howling wind and flaying rain, listening to a conversation she never should have heard in the first place…

_"Th' mainland… it was fab!"_

"…There were these Pokémon…"

"…used t' be here too, 'til he bought th' place…"

"…Got rid of 'em, 'e did…"

"…said 'e did it for 'is daugh-ah…"

"…yeah, fuh'th' freak…"

Gripping the railing of the balcony, the girl's thick knuckles turned a brilliant shade of yellowish white from both the cold and the pressure.

"I'm not a freak." She hissed to the empty air as it strafed invisibly against the sturdy walls of her father's manor.

"**I** want to see the mainland as much as the rest of them. **I** want to see these 'Pokémon'! I never asked for this! My father is _innocent!"_

With a howl of trapped desperation, Cassie smashed both fists into the unforgiving steel of the railing. The shock ripped through her arms up to the shoulders and she shuddered.

The earth shuddered with her.

Momentarily startled from her eruption of pent-up frustration, the daughter of the island's owner windmilled her arms as the balcony - no, the whole _island_ - bucked beneath her feet. Hands slapping against wet stone and glass, Cassie steadied herself and watched in wide-eyed fascination as, just within her range of vision through the stormy haze, the sea started to fall back from the beach…

"Cassie!" exclaimed the voice of a fiery haired woman as her bony yet slender hands latched onto the shoulder of her only child, "What are you doing out here?! You'll catch pneumonia or wor-"

She broke off abruptly and Cassie felt the pressure on her broad shoulders lessen as her mum's grip weakened

"Good mother of…"

The woman stopped again, her face twisted into an expression of sheer stunned terror before she tried again, grabbing the arm of the younger female and pulling her back towards the sliding door that led inside with petrified urgency.

"Well, what are you waiting for?!" she screamed at the static blonde, whose mind was caught in a mixture of horror and morbid curiosity, "Get inside NOW!"

Breaking from her trance at the blast of her mother's voice in her ears, Cassie ripped her gaze away from the roaring wall of water that was now hurling itself at the helpless islanders. Together the two women slammed the door shut behind them, wet and numb fingers fumbling with the lock, as the tsunami barrelled up the beach, consuming everything in its path…

* * *

**A/N:** Note that I'm one of those people who absolutely hates the lack of indentation here. That's why the formatting looks pretty terrible...

Putting that aside, though, this fic should be pretty good. I'd just like to extend my gratitude to GoldenChar and IdiotNESS of SPPf for helping me mold a few of my ideas into proper shape. You guys pwn all! XD

Eeegasp! What happened to my asterixes?! Gah, I'll have to replace them with a stupid hr-style line... (Cue angry glares at fanfictiondotnet, that won't even let me write its name correctly...)


	2. Chapter one: Disorientation

Just a Girl

Chapter One: Disorientation

The sun shone down in all its pre-dusk glory, its light glittering on the wet sands of a forgotten beach on the southern coast of Kanto. Flocks of Pidgey and Spearow clouded the air, dive bombing the ground as the small tawny birds feasted on any Magikarp or Goldeen that had been unfortunate enough to be washed up by the storm the night before. The tide was coming in and the local aerial creatures were working doggedly to eat their fill before the food was swept away.

Lapping its way slowly up the sand, the waves started to bother someone else; the long, prone form of an unconscious human. Black shirt and blue jeans plastered to her skin, the girl gave a tiny moan as the water trickled through her thick socks and between her toes. Her long nose wrinkled beneath the matted mop of blonde hair that shielded her face from the sun, picking up a strong scent of salt and the underlying whiff of drying seaweed and dead fish.

Suddenly something solid jabbed into the back of her head and the girl woke with a start, jerking away as her brown eyes snapped open. Every muscle in her body ached from the movement: she felt as though she'd fallen under the hooves of a herd of bulls. But that wasn't quite the worst of her troubles.

"Uh…" she squeaked, leaning on her arms as she leant as far away as possible from the thing that had woken her.

It gave a curious bark in response, its long, pointed ears twitching as its four slender, yellow paws carried it closer. The creature regarded her with coal black eyes as the human froze, staring right back at its jagged ruff and golden yellow pelt. It had the basic shape of a dog but also possessed a feline sort of grace. In place of a tail triangular barbs of stiff fur jutted out over its rear, forming spikes that looked far too sharp for the girl's tastes.

"Jolt?" it yapped again, moving closer as the object of its interest backed further away, "Eon jolt?"

The next step forward was too much - leaping to her feet and causing the huge gathering of birds to wheel away up into the sky with loud caws, she turned and fled up towards the trees, her socks slapping into the sandy slush as she ran. Behind her the strange yellow beast cocked its head to the side and watched her go.

Although she had no destination in mind, Cassie wouldn't have made it running anyway. Although she was still terrified that dog thing was following her, she let herself fall against the nearest tree she reached, gasping for breath. Simply having survived the ride that got her here had been more than enough, she realised, and asking for any more from her body wasn't going to achieve anything. She'd never done any real work before, but she was smart enough to figure out that her current condition was the one her father normally referred to as "dog tired".

The thought of her father brought her mind back to her current situation and the girl forced herself to walk some more, scratching at her itchy, salt encrusted skin. Her parents… where were they? More importantly, where was _she?_ Well, perhaps that one was more easily solved. As it wasn't the island, this could only be the mainland… but she knew very little about the place, aside from that her father often went there on business trips and that it was somewhat bigger than home. How much bigger she didn't know but-

Pokémon. Ah.

She did know something else about the island: it was inhabited by creatures known as Pocket Monsters, Pokémon for short. And they were… creatures. Things that replaced the normal animals of the island and were gathered, or something, by people who liked them. She cringed inwardly at her own ignorance on the subject, although she now highly suspected that the creature she'd seen down at the beach had been on of these "Pokémon". Did that mean it was safe? She wasn't sure.

The trees thinned out very quickly, leaving Cassie on a beaten dirt path very similar to the one leading from the cove to the village back home. Although she wasn't sure if she really wanted to meet the townspeople - they could be savages, like those she'd read about in books - following the road was probably the best thing to do, especially since she hadn't a clue about living in the wild. In fact, she couldn't remember ever sleeping anywhere other than her soft feather bed back in her cavernous home. Although it seemed extremely unlikely that any structures could have survived if she had ended up outdoors, Cassandra Nallu silently wished that the mansion still stood.

In the same way that the village at home was close to the sea, the path the sodden and tired girl followed broadened quickly into the main street of a settlement. Despite her numerous aches and pains, Cassie peered at the first few scattered houses as she passed them, seeing small wooden structures that could consist of no more than three or four rooms at most. Each was topped with a slightly sloping grey slate roof, patches of moss creeping from between the gaps, and beside every plain wooden door sat a squat water barrel for collecting rain. The newcomer blinked at each, confused by their simplicity. Her mother had tutored her at home and these houses reminded her of the distinctive buildings of centuries ago she had seen in the extracts from history texts they had studied together. She had never expected to see anything like this still in working use…

_'That's something to ponder once I get back home.'_ she told herself stubbornly as the poor excuses for houses started to get closer together.

There were a lot of them, the girl realised as she walked further, and they were getting bigger. By the time she reached a place where the path she followed crossed a similar one in a massive cross, the majority of the buildings had two stories, larger, clean windows and doors with metal numbers nailed to their fronts. The place was still eerily empty… but were those human voices she heard coming from the largest house?

Naïve through lack of experience, Cassie decided that there was little anyone could do to her but call her names if she bothered them. She padded towards the door of the noisy building and pushed it open. For a second the full sound of a large group of humans deep in conversation flooded out into the streets but as the increasingly nervous girl stared at the grinning faces of folk gathered around stocky wooden tables the noise started to fade away until the very last voice was silent. Those faces didn't look so jolly now, they stared at her in silence as though she were some sort of alien. They weren't used to strangers.

Finally the screech of wood on slate broke the silence as a red faced man lurched to his feet, a pewter tankard spewing amber liquid as it hung from wobbling fingers.

"Ya like swimming' in tha' sea wif all ya clothes on then, lass?" he slurred drunkenly, roaring with laughter at his own 'joke' and seeming not to care as ale splashed down his dirty white shirt.

Unnerved by his strange behaviour and not entirely sure if that was a rhetorical question, Cassie stepped back and mumbled, "Well, uh, I…"

"Don't be stupid, Alfred." Quipped a black haired woman, sneering over her own mug at the local drunk, "She's probably from Saffron or the like, come to show off her money and her new styles to us plain commoners." Her cold sapphire gaze slid over to the girl in the doorway, words dripping venom, "Is that it, some new style? Coated in salt and mud… at least your kind has finally realised that it should dress as the swarm of dirty Grumpigs it is."

Although she had no idea as to what a 'Grumpig' might be, Cassie knew an insult when she heard one. As a result, she was at a loss. She'd found people, and she definitely needed them to get in contact with the individuals who might know her father from his annual mainland visits. But did she really want to stay in the same room as some woman who was slandering her as though she were scum?

She gulped, "I've never been to Saffron, really. I was just wondering… if anyone…"

She took another step back, chin lowering almost to her chest as her eyes went wide. The tension in the room was growing more menacing with every word and she was being forcibly reminded of the other children back home - they despised her for being rich and apparently these people agreed with them. But…

"I was wondering if anyone knows my-"

She was cut off again as a cloth-covered hand grabbed her upper arm tightly. She jumped, her body jerking around to face this new threat, and she came face to face with a black haired man whose dark eyebrows were furrowed in a frown. Before she could even open her mouth to speak he pulled her away from the pub door, letting it slam shut loudly as he manoeuvred her out of harm's way.

"Who're you?!" she garbled, trying to yank her arm out of his grasp in sheer confusion.

He raised an eyebrow at her, obviously sceptical about the state of her attire.

"I'd ask the same of you." He retorted, his voice carrying a cocky and confident tone.

She blinked, looked down at his firm hold on her arm, blinked again and looked back up into his face.

"If you don't know me," she said, "Then why are you touching me?!"

Although he seemed slightly surprised by her blunt answer, the man recovered himself quickly and let her pull away, gesturing to a shape at his feet she hadn't noticed.

"Sajirella here wanted me to meet you, for whatever reason." He responded, shrugging one cape-covered shoulder.

Looking down at 'Sajirella', the colour faded from Cassie's face as she took a few slow steps backwards. Giving a pleased woof, the yellow creature she had encountered down by the beach sat back on its haunches and gave a doggy smirk.

"Wh-what is that thing?" the girl squeaked, her eyes not leaving the squatting creature.

The man rolled his eyes, "A Jolteon." He told her in an exasperated tone, as though this were common knowledge, "She seems to think that you'll be of use to me, although your current performance is definitely telling me otherwise. The name's Jarred, by the way."

He held out one black gloved hand to shake, but Cassie took yet another step back, staring at him cautiously. The fact that she'd never met another person before without her parents right behind her wasn't helping relations out at all.

Neither was the way he dressed - at least the people in that building had worn familiar clothes. This guy sported a white muscle shirt under a pearly breastplate, shoulder armour and short black cape made of something similar to velvet. A thick, dark coloured leather belt sagged from one hip, cutting an angle through the black cloth that made up his trousers. His dark eyes peered out from under a thick fringe of feathery black hair and one thick eyebrow arched skywards at her hesitation.

"Why would I be of use to you?" she wanted to know, refusing to take the offered hand, "I'm not good with numbers and I'm pretty weak too, so what…?"

"I need a new servant to replace the last one," Jarred told her dryly, letting his hand drop to his side, "And for some reason I got the impression that you weren't too welcome here. But forget it, I don't need a skittish little nuisance under my feet when I leave this village."

He sniffed haughtily and turned on his heel, clucking to Sajirella the Jolteon.

"Girl washed up on the beach might make a good replacement…" he muttered to the creature, "Ha! Sometimes I wonder if you're still all there…"

For a second Cassie stood indecisively, chewing her lip and shivering as the lengthening shadow of the house across the street as it shifted up her leg. It would be night soon and she was still freezing cold… Wait, did he just say leave the village?!

"Uh," she paused again for a second before dashing after him, "Wait!"

"And why exactly should I?" he queried, doing so anyway as his dancing black eyes settled on her pale face.

"I'd… I'd like to take the position of servant." She said with a nod, hoping that she could find someone else to help her along the way.

"My name's Cassandra. Cassandra… Windsor-Smith." The name came suddenly, stolen from a particularly pretty (but venomous) girl from back home, "I can read and write, work with a computer, carry some stuff…"

Jarred simply laughed, his eyes twinkling. Seeing her confused expression, he grinned roguishly.

"Sajirella knows what she's talking about, _Cassandra_. And I know how to get people to do as I want them to."

Before she could protest, he snatched a single paper note from his pocket and deposited it into her hand.

"There's your first payment - do well and there's more where that came from!"

Again he twisted on his boot heel and strode off, his new servant trotting to keep up with his long strides and making sure she kept him between herself and the Jolteon.

"Ready to see the world, Trojan princess?"

* * *

Well, that was really hard to write. I'm not too good at depicting a character's confusion, you see. Jarred's referal to Cassie as a 'Trojan princess', by the way, relates to the daughter of Hecuba and Priam. She was a princess of Troy and, yeah, her name was Cassandra. I don't do ironic names, mind, so don't go leaping to the conclusion that this Cassandra is going to be cursed to predict the future and never be believed!

Shout outs:

**Act: **Poor asterixes... they never deserved to die... I'm glad you liked the prologue, hopefully this chapter lived up to expectations. Things are a little chaotic around here at the moment (I live in the perfect soap opra, lol) but I'll review your fic as soon as I get the chance. Maybe while I'm staying with my uncle or aunt (dunno which yet) I'll get the chance. Be forwarned, mind: as a core member of the review crew I'll probably be picky.

**Siara the Black-Winged Angel: **I thought I suggested using a spellchecker when you review? --; 'Twas hard to read that. But, since I figured it out in the end... The prologue was meant to be at least somewhat confusing: it's a technique to draw readers in by making them want answers. I guess there haven't been any answers so far, but there will be once I get into the meaty bits. Did I update fast enough for you, BTW? lol, thanks for the reply, oh disappearing-one!


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